Digimon: Digital Monsters

The Clockwork Alchemist

Chapter Four: Not Quite Heroic

Gatomon couldn't sleep. Being of cat-stock, this was really unheard of and downright ridiculous. Who ever heard of a cat not being able to cat-nap, after all? But there it was. No matter what she did, she knew she wasn't going to get any winks for a while at least. The problem was her head was too full, and no one can sleep when they can't stop thinking, not even a cat.

"Can't sleep?" whispered a voice. Gatomon looked around and found a pair of familiar eyes watching her in the dark.

"Go back to sleep, Patamon."

There was a soft flurry of wings, and the little hamster-bunny settled himself down in the grass next to her. "So, what's wrong?" he asked, giving her a friendly nudge with his nose. She sighed, and shook her head. There was no denying Patamon when he was determined to cheer somebody up. He could be stubborn like that. And then there was the fact that he was the only one she felt comfortable in confiding to, becoming the little brother she never had.

"It's this whole prophecy thing," she admitted quietly. "I've thought this thing through frontwards and backwards and I just don't see how a war could possibly start. But then…Delphimon's predictions are always right, aren't they?"

"You're worried."

"…Yeah," the cat muttered grudgingly. "We're gonna try and stop it, but…what if we can't? People could die. Our people could die." She cast a glance at Kari and shuddered. "I can't go through that again…Losing Wizardmon was enough."

"They won't die, Gatomon," Patamon said firmly, with a conviction she didn't know he had in him. "We won't let them. We're gonna find whoever's supposed to start it and put an end to 'em. There won't be any war."

"Still…I really wish he was here. He'd know what to do."

"You miss him a lot, huh?" Patamon murmured softly.

"He was the best friend I ever had, 'cept for Kari," she said, staring up at the moon. "It still hurts, but… not as much now. It was so long ago."

Patamon put a wing around her shoulders and gave a little squeeze. "Try to get some sleep, Gato. We've got a long day tomorrow."

She nodded and smiled. "Goodnight…"

"Sweet dreams."

"Patamon?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks."

.xXx.

"The Clockwork Alchemist?" the wizard repeated in intrigue, but Romy shook her head.

"I can explain that later," she replied. "We should take care of those…what did you call them again?"

"Snimon."

"Right. Let's get rid of them first."

"How? There're hundreds out there!" Mummymon protested, gesturing with his blaster. "There aren't enough of us to take them all out. We're trapped in here."

"Yeah, we do need more fire power..." Romy agreed, making a window and peering outside. "Whoops!"

Suddenly the business end of a Snimon blade had slammed through the opening she'd made, slicing through the exact spot her head had been just before if she hadn't deftly side-stepped at the last second. Without batting an eye she clapped and severed the tip of the blade with a quick down-sweep of her hand. There a scream of outrage outside, but she ignored it, examining the piece of steel before it abruptly turned black and went to dust in her hands.

"…I was looking at that. What happened?" she asked, a little annoyed.

"Our bodies disintegrate when we die," Wizardmon explained. "Including any parts we lose. More importantly, that blade was fake. Those aren't real Snimon out there."

"How do you know?"

"It turned black before it disappeared."

"How did you do that?" Meramon asked. "Cut it off like that?"

"Lucky guess. I assumed that Snimon was composed of the same basic materials that humans are," she answered, watching outside. "There's only one element in my body that could become hard as steel, and that's carbon. Depending on the molecular structure, it can mean the difference between diamonds and pencil lead. I just transmuted the blade into a weaker form, brittle enough that I could snap it off."

"Meaning…?" Beelzemon prompted

"I turned the hard stuff into soft stuff," Romy replied. "Okay, we need some bombs. There's a river out there, and trees beyond that. With those I could transmute a few hydrogen balloons, but I need a way to get to them…"

"Can I help?" One of the bigger, beast-like Digimon came forward, and she grinned. He looked like a mole, with powerful fore-claws and an actual drill for a snout.

"Convenient," she said. "Let's see…I'll need a tunnel leading to the trees first, and someone to cut them down."

"That'd be me," Silphymon put in.

"Right," Romy nodded. "Everyone else is gonna play decoy. Shoot at them from here, and keep them occupied. Okay…let's go."

With a clap, she'd created a few more small windows, and while the others began firing Drimogemon dived into the floor and tunneled his way towards the river, making sure to give it a wide berth, with Romy and Silphymon following in the rear.

"I can give you some cover while you work," Wizardmon said, coming up next to Romy. "There's a spell that will let you go unnoticed for at least five minutes, but no longer."

"That should be plenty of time," she smiled.

"So, tell me more abut this magic of yours," he said eagerly. "I've never heard of a human that could do anything like it."

"We call it alchemy, and it isn't magic, it's science," Romy explained. "It's basically knowing the composition of a material, then deconstructing it and reconstructing it in another form."

"So you can make anything?"

"Not anything. There are laws, such as the conservation of mass and equivalent exchange," she said. "I can't make something out of nothing, and in order to gain something I have to give something in return. Take the bombs we're going to make. Water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen, or H²O. I just need to extract the hydrogen, put it into paper balloons, light the fuse and throw them at the Snimon. Since Hydrogen is highly flammable, it'll be like a great big Molotov cocktail."

It was then that they came up on the other side of the river, and while Wizardmon erected his You-Don't-See-Me spell Romy created an irrigation ditch to bring in water from the river. In a matter of seconds Silphymon had felled several trees, and Romy fashioned it all into half a dozen formidable balloons.

"How do we throw these at the Snimon?" Drimogemon asked, eyeing the bulky things uncertainly.

"Like this," Romy said, clapped, and under the first balloon a stone catapult rose up out of the ground and locked onto the swarm. Five more burst up from beneath the snow, Wizardmon lit the fuses, and Romy pulled the lever, slinging the balloons straight into the heart of their attackers. The following explosions were deafening, shaking Wizardmon to his core while dozens of Snimon went crashing to the ground in flames or in pieces.

"Second round!" Romy called, and they began the process all over. However, the Snimon knew now that something was happening, and turned to meet this new threat. But Wizardmon's spell was still in effect, and they floundered in the air while another volley of bombs rained down on their heads from out of absolutely nowhere. By the third round, though, the spell was weakening and a few of the insects dived towards them, only to be blasted into oblivion by a powerful attack from Silphymon. Their numbers greatly diminished, the Snimon decided to beat a hasty retreat, only to meet the others as they knocked their way out of Romy's cave and proceeded to demolish any insect left in the air. Within fifteen minutes it was over.

"Well…That was easy," Frigimon said, watching in interest as Romy deconstructed her catapults. "Are you sure you're…human?"

"Yup, last time I checked," Romy grinned, amused. "But…I've never heard of the Digital world before or Digimon for that matter. Are you some sort of talking chimera?"

"You're in another universe entirely, Romy," Wizardmon told her, waving as the others said their goodbyes and went back to their own lives. "But you're not from the real world like the others…"

"There are others?" she asked.

"Yeah, but don't know where they are," Meramon said.

"…I see."

"However, now that you're here they may be called back," Wizardmon said.

"Why's that?"

"Usually, if a human shows up in the Digital World it signifies that something is wrong," the wizard explained. "It's happened a few times before, and when it has, several DigiDestined have been pulled through the gate to help put everything right."

"Mm-hmmm…" Romy hummed in that particular way that said she knew where he was going and she didn't like it one bit. "DigiDestined?"

"Chosen children," Beelzemon explained shortly, giving her a toothy grin and a wink. "Humans that appear in the Digital World have some purpose or other. Obviously, you got something to do here."'

"Obviously," Romy deadpanned.

"Catch on quick, don'tcha?"

"Yeah, I don't care," she said, waving her hand in dismissal. "Sorry, but I have my own problems."

"But…wait, you helped us with the Snimon," Drimogemon protested, confused. "I thought—"

"No, I helped myself," Romy clarified. "I was in as much trouble as you were. And now that the trouble's over, I'll be on my way."

"I'm afraid you won't be able to leave this world until you've done whatever you were brought here to do," Wizardmon said levelly.

"Who's to say I'm one of these destined people?" she demanded, rounding on him. "Where's your proof?"

"Well, normally a Digi-Vice would appear…" he said, faltering. "But…"

"Obviously I don't have one," Romy finished smugly. "Nice try, but no. Find some other sap to recruit. It was nice meeting you."

"Wait," he said as she turned to leave. "Digi-Vice or not, you are here for a reason."

"NO."

"But it's your responsibility—"

"It's not my responsibility to do anything!" she burst out angrily. "I don't owe you, and I've already got enough on my plate as it is! If something happens, take care of it yourself. Stand on your own two feet. It's pathetic if you have to rely on some girl you don't even know to take care of all your problems."

"I didn't say that!" the wizard flared in a rare show of anger. "If anything happens, I am more than proficient enough to handle it!"

"Then what are you arguing with me for, shorty?" the girl bit back. Instantly, the wizard's gaze went black.

"WHAT—"

"ENOUGH!" Frigimon shouted, putting himself between them and cutting short Wizardmon's explosion. Apparently, Romy had hit a nerve. "Fighting won't get us anywhere. And…I think she has a point. Whatever will happen will be our problem, it isn't fair to ask her to deal with it. It isn't right getting a kid involved; we ought to handle whatever will happen ourselves."

"Thank you," Romy said graciously, smirking while Wizardmon smoldered furiously. "Now, if you don't mind, I'll be going now."

"As I've already said, you won't be able to leave this world until you've completed what you were sent to do," Wizardmon repeated curtly, trying to get himself under control. It was not often that he lost his temper, but then again, it was not often someone made a comment about his stature. It was just his luck she'd managed to hit upon the one thing that could set him off.

"Auuugh! I don't have time for this crap," she exclaimed in frustration, leaning her back against the nearest tree. "There's something important I have to do. I need to get home NOW."

"Well, the only one I know that might be able to do that is Gennai," Wizardmon said, reluctantly. "But he's a long ways from here."

"Great. I'll go see him then."

"You'll need a partner."

"Excuse me?"

"A Digimon partner, for protection—"

"I'll pass," Romy grinned. "I'm a State Alchemist. Where I come from that means I'm part of the military. I can take care of myself—as you saw earlier."

"A guide then," he went on. "The Digital World is vast, you could easily get lost."

Romy let out a long-suffering sigh. "…Fine," she conceded grudgingly. "What about one of you?"

"No!" they all cried at once, backing off quick.

"Not just anyone will do," Wizardmon explained while Romy was torn on whether to be amused or indignant by their reaction. "All Digimon partners are pre-chosen."

"More destiny crap…" she muttered. "Alright, where would I find mine?"

"Primary Village," Wizardmon replied promptly. "If your partner hasn't shown up by now, then most likely it's there."

"Okay, then. Who's the happy volunteer that'll take me there?" she asked sweetly.

"…We'll draw straws."

To be continued…

Disclaimer: I wish had a Digimon…or ruled the Digital World. Sadly, I do not.

Vocabulary (in case you missed it the last time):

Delphimon—A Digimon I just made up solely for the purpose of having a prophecy. Basically, she pretty much gets high and says stuff about the future. Cool beans.

Ha-ha! Angry and indignant Wizardmon! It's not often you see that, now is it? Though, seriously, I think being called short would set him off. I mean, he has to be the tiniest champion Digimon I've ever seen besides Gatomon and she's a cat. Just look at how huge his hat is. He's totally compensating.

So, yes, the fourth chapter of Clockwork and already I have five reviews! FIVE! Yeah, so other people have four hundred and sixty-three or some ridiculous number like that. But who cares? I have five reviews! Ha! Not that you should stop writing to me…

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed reading as much as I enjoyed writing. This chapter was so fun. It made me happy. Also, about the hydrogen bomb things—probably wouldn't work in real life. I got the idea from Titan:AE. Good movie. Watch it sometime. The carbon thing I got from FMA. Good anime. Watch it sometime.

That's it for now,

Calfuray